PM to meet top Chinese amid drama of Rio case

The West Australian

Wednesday, 15 July 2009 11:39PM

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd could be forced to confront a top official from China at the Labor Party national conference at the end of this month over the detention of an Australian mining executive for espionage and bribery.

Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Jieyi, one of the country's most senior political figures, is set to attend the bi-annual ALP summit in Sydney as an observer, further complicating the Government's efforts to aid Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu.

Word of the visit came as the Government again had to defend itself from suggestions it was not doing enough to help Mr Hu, with the Opposition demanding again that Mr Rudd contact Chinese President Hu Jintao and demand his release.

Australian officials have been allowed to visit Mr Hu only once since he and three other Rio Tinto employees were taken into custody by Chinese security services nine days ago. Chinese officials have said little about the reason for their detention other than they were suspected of spying and of stealing state secrets that put the country's economic security at risk.

Mr Rudd returned to Australia yesterday from a week-long trip to Europe for meetings on the world economy. He also pushed Australia's bid to host the soccer World Cup.

Mr Rudd has taken leave for the rest of the week while Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith has gone to Egypt and Malta for talks on climate change and food security.

Shadow foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop said yesterday the Government was "pussy-footing" around on the Hu case for fear of upsetting Australia's biggest trading partner.

She was deeply concerned about reports that the Chinese President had personally approved the order to arrest the Rio men.

"The Government, as far as we are aware, has not even attempted to make personal contact with the President or even with the Minister for Foreign Affairs," she said. "The Government seems intent on leaving it to the bureaucrats to sort out and keeps treating it as a consular matter."

Mr Rudd will have to deal with the issue head-on when Mr Jieyi attends the ALP conference, one of the biggest events on the Labor calendar and attended by union heads, MPs and hundreds of rank and file members.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it had called the acting Chinese ambassador to Australia in for the third time yesterday to ask China to allow Australian diplomats better access to Mr Hu and more details of the charges against him.

Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner asked the public to show patience over the affair and attacked the Opposition for its calls for urgent action. "Sometimes (diplomacy) involves things that go on behind closed doors, just ordinary diplomacy rather than just shouting at people in public," he said.